Encyclopedia
Gdansk is the sixth-largest city in
Poland, and also its principal
seaport and the capital of the
Pomeranian Voivodeship.
The city lies on the southern coast of the
Gdansk Bay , in a conurbation with the spa town of
Sopot, the city of
Gdynia and
suburban communities, which together form a
metropolitan area called the greater Gdansk or the
Tricity with a population of over a million people. Gdansk is, with a population of 460,524 , the largest city in the historical province of Eastern Pomerania. North lies the Kashubian Tricity: Rumia, Reda, and
Wejherowo.
Gdansk is situated at the mouth of the
Motlawa river, connected to the Leniwka, a branch in the delta of the
Vistula, whose waterway system connects 60% of the area of Poland, giving the city a unique advantage as the center of Poland's sea trade.
Historically an important seaport since medieval times and subsequently a principal ship-building centre, Gdansk was a member of the
Hanseatic League. Today the city remains an important industrial centre, together with the nearby port of
Gdynia, and is world famous as the birthplace of the
Solidarity movement which, under the leadership of
Lech Walesa, played a major role in bringing an end to
Communist rule in the
Eastern Bloc.
Names
The name is thought to mean
town located on Gdania river, the original name of the Motlawa branch the city is situated on. Like many other European cities, Gdansk has had many different names throughout its history.
The Polish name
Gdansk is usually pronounced
IPA , , or in English. The acute accent is frequently neglected by non-Poles. In the local Kashubian language it is known as
Gdunsk.
The city was mainly populated by Germans and in 1792 became a part of the
Kingdom of Prussia, later part of the German Empire until 1919, the German name
Danzig was widely used until the end of the Second World War. The city's
Latin name may be given as any of
Gedania,
Gedanum or
Dantiscum; the variety of Latin names reflects the influence of the Polish, Kashubian, and German names.
Former
English versions of its name include
Dantsic and
Dantzic .
See also: List of European cities with names in different languages
Historical documents
The name of a settlement was recorded after St. Adalbert's demise in 997 A.D. as
urbs Gyddanyzc and later was written as Kdanzk , Gdanzc , Gdansk , Danzc , Danczk , Danczik , Danczig , Gdansk ,
Gdansk ,
Gdansk and in Latin documents
Gedanum or
Dantiscum. These early recordings show the Pomeranian name Gdunsk, the Polish name Gdansk and the German name Danzig.
Alternative spellings from
medieval and early modern documents are
Gyddanyzc,
Kdansk,
Gdanzc,
Dantzk,
Dantzig,
Dantzigk,
Dantiscum and
Gedanum. The official Latin name of
Gedanum was used simultaneously.
Special celebration names
On special occasions it is also known as
The Royal Polish City of Gdansk; Polish:
Królewskie Polskie Miasto Gdansk,
German:
Königliche Polnische Stadt Danzig,
Latin:
Regia Civitas Polonica Gedanensis, Kashubian:
Królewsczi Polsczi Gard Gdunsk.
The Kashubians prefer the name:
Our Capital City Gdansk or
The Kashubian Capital City Gdansk .
Sources:
- Gdansk, in: Kazimierz Rymut, Nazwy Miast Polski, Ossolineum, Wroclaw 1987
- Hubert Gurnowicz, Gdansk, in: Nazwy miast Pomorza Gdanskiego, Ossolineum, Wroclaw 1978
- Baedeker's Northern Germany, Karl Baedeker Publishing, Leipzig 1904.
History
Main article: History of Gdansk, see also: History of PomeraniaFoundation and the Middle Ages
According to
archeologists, the Gdansk stronghold was built in the 980s by
Mieszko I of Poland. The year 997 was celebrated as the date of the foundation of the city, this being the year when Saint
Adalbert of Prague baptized the inhabitants of Gdansk .
In the following years Gdansk was the main centre of a Polish splinter duchy ruled by the Dukes of Pomerania. The most famous of them,
Swietopelk II of Pomerania, granted a local autonomy charter in ca. 1235 to the city, which at the time had about 2,000 inhabitants. But at this time, the town had already obtained the city charter under Lübeck law in 1224 and the official spoken language was German.
By 1308 Gdansk had became a flourishing trading city with some 10,000 inhabitants, but in the Gdansk Massacre of November 13 1308, it was occupied and demolished by the
Teutonic Knights. This led to a series of wars between the Knights and Poland, ending with the Peace of Kalisz in 1343 when the Knights acknowledged that they would hold Pomerania as "an alm" from the Polish king. Although it left the legal basis of their possession of the province in some doubt, the agreement permitted the foundation of the municipality in 1343 and the development of increased export of grain from Poland via the
Vistula river trading routes.
While under the control of the Knights, the city and its trade prospered, German influence increased, and the city began to be referred to by variations of "Gdansk", ultimately developing into the Germanised version of the Polish name: "Danzig". The city became a full member of the
Hanseatic League in 1361, and its city seal showed, similar to that of Lübeck, a "Hansekogge" ship, with the inscription
SIGILLUM BURGENSIUM DANTZIKE .
A new war broke out in 1409, ending with the
Battle of Grunwald , and the city briefly came under the direct overlordship of the Polish king. A year later, with the Peace of Torun in 1411, it returned to the Teutonic Knights' administration. In 1440 Danzig participated in the foundation of the Prussian Union which eventually led to the Thirteen Years War and the incorporation of
Royal Prussia to the direct rule of the Polish Crown.
Thanks to the Royal charters granted by king
Casimir IV the Jagiellonian and the free access to all Polish markets, Danzig became a large and prosperous seaport and city. The 16th and 17th centuries were a Golden Age for trade and culture of the city. Beside the Germans, inhabitants from various other ethnic groups contributed to Danzig's identity and rich culture of this period. A large number of
Scotsmen took refuge or emigrated to and received citizenship in Danzig and other Prussian cities and also, through trade, all over the Baltic region. With the
Reformation, the German inhabitants adopted the
Lutheran confession.
The city suffered a slow economic decline due to the wars in the 18th century, when it was taken by the Russians after the Siege of Danzig in 1734. Danzig was annexed to the
Kingdom of Prussia in 1793 and remained Prussian until 1919 – except for the short period of 1807-1815 when it was the
Free City of Danzig during the
Napoleonic years. As part of Prussia, its longest serving Regierungspräsident was Robert von Blumenthal, who held office from 1841, before the troubles of 1848, until 1863. Danzig became part of the
German Empire in 1871.
World Wars and Inter-War Years
As a result of the
Versailles treaty after
World War I, Danzig became a free city under the control of the
League of Nations. Its predominantly German population had no right of self-determination in a referendum as in other disputed parts of the former
German Empire. When Poland regained its independence after
World War I, the Poles hoped to regain the city to provide the free access to the sea which they had been promised by the
Allies on the basis of
Woodrow Wilson's "
Fourteen Points". However, since the population of the city was predominantly German, it was not placed under Polish sovereignty, but became the
Free City of Danzig, an independent quasi-state under the auspices of the
League of Nations, governed by its predominantly German residents but with its external affairs largely under Polish control. The Free City issued its own stamps and currency, bearing the legend "
Freie Stadt Danzig" and symbols of the city's maritime orientation and history.
The vast majority of the city's population favored eventual return to Germany. In the early 1930s the
Nazi Party capitalized on these pro-German sentiments, and in 1933 garnered 38 percent of vote for the Danzig
Volkstag. Thereafter, the Nazis under the
Bavarian
Gauleiter Albert Förster achieved dominance in the city government - which, nominally, was still overseen by the League of Nations' High Commissioner.
Nazi demands for easier access from
Pomerania to Danzig and to
East Prussia served as a direct pretext for the German attack on Poland on September 1, 1939 and triggered the outbreak of
World War II.
The military assault at Danzig began with an artillery bombardment of Polish positions at the
Westerplatte peninsula by the old German pre-Dreadnought
battleship Schleswig-Holstein was a German battleship [i] that fought in both World Wars. ...
and a subsequent landing of German infantry on the peninsula. Polish defenders at the Westerplatte resisted for nearly a week, before running out of ammunition. Many members of Danzig's Polish and
Kashub population were deported to
Stutthof concentration camp near Danzig or were executed at Piasnica forest. The city was annexed by
Nazi Germany and incorporated into the
Reichsgau Danzig-Westpreussen.
Most of the Jewish community in Danzig was able to escape from the
Nazis shortly before the outbreak of hostilities. However, German secret police had been observing Polish circles since 1936, compiling information which in 1939 served to prepare conscription lists of Poles to be arrested or executed in Operation Tannenberg. After the Nazi invasion, massive arrests of Poles started. On the first day of the war alone approx. 1,500 people were arrested, mainly Poles active in the social and economical life, activists and members of Polish organizations. On 2 September 1939, 150 of them were deported to
Stutthof concentration camp, where most were eventually killed.
After the final Soviet offensive began in January 1945, hundreds of thousands of German refugees fled through the city's port in a large-scale naval operation employing hundreds of German cargo and passenger ships. Some of the ships were subsequently sunk by Soviet forces . In the process, tens of thousands of refugees were killed.
On 30 March 1945, the
Red Army captured the city, and left the city in ruins . After the
Yalta and
Potsdam conferences, Gdansk was assigned to Poland, along with all other territories east of the
Oder-Neisse line. The remaining
German residents of the city who survived the war were expelled to Germany, and henceforth the city became wholly Polish populated.
Modern age
Poles came to the city from throughout Poland, especially from the regions of eastern Poland annexed by the
Soviet Union. The Old City was rebuilt during the 1950s and 1960s. Because of the development of its port and three major shipyards, Gdansk was a major shipping and industrial center of the
Communist People's Republic of Poland.
In the course of German-Polish reconciliation policies driven by West German Chancellor
Willy Brandt's
Ostpolitik, German territorial claims on Gdansk were renounced, and its full incorporation into Poland was recognized in the Treaty of
Warsaw in 1970.
In 1970 Gdansk was the scene of anti-government demonstrations which led to the downfall of Poland's communist leader Wladyslaw Gomulka. Ten years later the
Gdansk Shipyard was the birthplace of the
Solidarity trade union movement, whose opposition to the government led to the end of communist party rule . Solidarity's leader
Lech Walesa became
President of Poland in 1990. Today Gdansk is a major industrial city and shipping port.
Throughout its history Gdansk/Danzig faced various periods of rule from different states before 1945:
From the early
13th century until 1945 the vast majority of Danzig's population had been of German ethnicity and German had been the language officially spoken since its city charter was granted in 1224 under Lübeck Law. For example, in the course of a poll executed in 1923, 96% of the citizens of Danzig stated German to be their mother tongue whereas 3% stated Polish to be so. Danzig enjoyed far reaching privileges concerning its self-autonomy while it was under protection of the
Polish Crown between 1466 - 1793. Due to its mainly German population the city resisted the
Counter-Reformation and stayed predominantly Protestant until 1945. In 1945, the surviving German population was expelled to the western parts of Germany and the city was eventually re-populated by Poles, themselves expelled from Polish lands annexed by the Soviet Union.
Economy
The city's industrial landscape is dominated by shipbuilding, petrochemical and chemical industries, and food processing. The share of high-tech sectors such as electronics, telecommunications, IT engineering, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals is on the rise.
Amber processing for the local economy is also important.
Culture
Gdansk was once an important centre of culture. In the 16th century it hosted Shakespearean theatre on foreign tours, and the
Danzig Research Society founded in 1743 was one of the first of its kind. Currently, there is a
Fundation Theatrum Gedanensis aimed at rebuilding the Shakespeare theatre at its historical site. It is expected that Gdansk will have a permanent English-language theatre, as at present it is only an annual event.
Main sights
The city boasts many fine buildings from the time of the
Hanseatic League. Most tourist attractions are along or near Ulica Dluga and Dlugi Targ , a pedestrian thoroughfare lined by buildings reconstructed in historical style and capped on either end by elaborate city gates. This part of the city is sometimes referred to as the Royal Way because it was the procession route of visiting kings.
Walking from end to end, sites encountered on or near the Royal Way include:
- Upland Gate
- Torture House
- Prison Tower
- Golden Gate
- Long Street
- Uphagen House
- Main Town Hall
- Long Market
- Arthur's Court
- Neptune Fountain
- Green Gate
Gdansk has a number of historical churches:
- St. Bridget
- St. Catherine
- St. John
- St Mary , a municipal church built during the 15th century, is the largest brick church in the world.
- St Nicholas' Church
- Church of the Holy Trinity
On the
Motlawa river the museum ship
SS Soldek was the Polish ship [i] - coal and ore freighter [i]. ...
is anchored.
Gdansk is the starting point of the
EuroVelo 9 cycling route which continues southward through Poland, then into the
Czech Republic,
Austria and
Slovenia before it finally ends at the Adriatic Sea at
Pula in
Croatia.
Transportation
Sports
Main article: Sports in GdanskThere are many popular professional sports teams in the Gdansk and Tricity area. Amateur sports are played by thousands of Gdansk citizens and also in schools of all levels .
Politics and local government
Main article: Politics of GdanskContemporary Gdansk is the capital of the Pomeranian province and is one of the major centres of economic and administrative life in Poland. Many important agencies of the state and local government levels have their main offices here: the Provincial Administration Office, the Provincial Government, the Ministerial Agency of the State Treasury, the Agency for Consumer and Competition Protection, the National Insurance regional office, the Court of Appeal, and the High Administrative Court.
Regional center
Gdansk Voivodeship was extended in 1999 to include most of
Slupsk Voivodeship, the western part of
Elblag Voivodeship and Chojnice County from
Bydgoszcz Voivodeship to form the new
Pomeranian Voivodeship.
The area of the region was thus extended from 7,394 km² to 18,293 km² and the population rose from 1,333,800 to 2,198,000 . By 1998,
Tricity constituted an absolute majority of the population; almost half of the inhabitants of the new region live in the centre.
Education and science
There are 14 universities with a total of 60,436 students, including 10,439 graduates
as of 2001.
- Gdansk University
- Gdansk University of Technology
- Medical Academy
- Physical Education Academy
- Musical Academy
- Arts Academy
- Instytut Budownictwa Wodnego PAN
- Ateneum — Szkola Wyzsza
- Gdanska Wyzsza Szkola Humanistyczna
- Gdanska Wyzsza Szkola Administracji
- Wyzsza Szkola Bankowa
- Wyzsza Szkola Spoleczno-Ekonomiczna
- Wyzsza Szkola Turystyki i Hotelarstwa w Gdansku
- Wyzsza Szkola Zarzadzania
Scientific and regional organizations
- Gdansk Scientific Society
- Baltic Institute , established 1925 in Torun, since 1946 in Gdansk
- TNOiK - Towarzystwo Naukowe Organizacji i Kierowania O/Gdansk
- IBNGR - Instytut Badan nad Gospodarka Rynkowa
Sister cities
Akmola / Kazakhstan - 1996
Barcelona / Spain - 1990
Bremen - Free Hanseatic City - 1976
Cleveland / USA - 1990
Helsingor / Denmark - 1992
Kaliningrad / Russian Federation - 1993
Kalmar / Sweden - 1991
Marseilles / France - 1992
Nice / France - 1999
Odessa / Ukraine - 1996
Rotterdam / Netherlands - 1998
Rouen / France - 1992
Sefton / Great Britain 1993
St. Petersburg / Russian Federation
Turku / Finland - 1987
Vilnius / Lithuania - 1998
See also
External links
